They now rank equal with Shanghai, China’s most expensive city , and just behind Sydney and Melbourne in 14th and 15th respectively.

“The rise of Australian and New Zealand cities up the ranking is to be expected, given that both countries currencies have appreciated in value in the last year or so ” survey editor Jon Copestake said.

“This movement is in sync with a number of other Asian cities, which have come to dominate at the top of the ranking”.

Auckland and Wellington’s dramatic jump up the rankings was behind only Brazil’s Sao Paulo and Rio De Janeiro, which jumped 29 and 27 rankings each.

While Brisbane and Adelaide also climbed higher up the list , Aussie rankings are still lower than five years ago when Sydney and Melbourne were among the world’s top 10 most expensive cities.

Singapore heads the list for the fourth year running , while Hong Kong and Zurich were the second and third most expensive cities.

Auckland and Wellington are swiftly becoming more and more expensive places to live.

10 Most Expensive cities to live are

1/ Singapore

2/ Hong Kong

3/ Zurich

4/ Tokyo

5/ Osaka

6/ Seoul

7/ Geneva

8/ Paris

9/ New York

10/ Copenhagen

10 Cheapest Cities to live in are

1/Almaty

2/Lagos

3/ Bangalore

4/ Karachi

5/ Algiers

6/ Chennai

7/ Mumbai

8/ Kiev

9/ Bucharest

10/ New Delhi

Seems New Zealand is becoming a highly attractive place to live and immigration into this country continues to grow meaning higher demand for housing.